THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. BIENVENIDO PARAGSA, alias "BENBEN", defendant-appellant.

FACTS Both RTC and the CA convicted the accused for rape.

The complainant was a 12 year old girl. It was stated in the complaint that she was threatened by the accused with a knife and then raped her on July 13, 1971.. The accused admited having sexual intercourse with Mirasol, the complaining witness, but he stoutly denied that he did so by employing force or intimidation against Mirasol. He claims he and Mirasol were sweethearts; that on the day of the incident, it was Mirasol who invited him to the latter's house where they had sexual intercourse after kissing each other; and that the intercourse they had that afternoon was, as a matter of fact, their third sexual intercourse. Mirasol did not bother at all to rebut the testimony of the appellant and his witnesses to the effect that the accused and Mirasol were actually sweethearts; and that they had had two previous sexual communications before July 13, 1971, one of which happened on June 29, 1971 in the house of the accused, where Mirasol and the accused slept together in the evening of the same day after the mother of the accused and Mirasol had returned from the town fiesta of Bantayan. ISSUE: Whether the failure of Mirasol to rebut constituted as an admission by silence. HELD: YES RATIO: The rule allowing silence of a person to be taken as an implied admission of the truth of the statements uttered in his presence is applicable in criminal cases. But before the silence of a party can be taken as an admission of what is said, it must appear: (1) that he heard and understood the statement; (2) that he was at liberty to interpose a denial; (3) that the statement was in respect to some matter affecting his rights or in which he was then interested, and calling, naturally, for an answer; (4) that the facts were within his knowledge; and (5) that the fact admitted or the inference to be drawn from his silence would be material to the issue (IV Francisco, The Revised Rules of Court in the Philippines, 1973 ed., p. 316). These requisites of admission by silence all obtain in the present case. Hence, the silence of Mirasol on the facts asserted by the accused and his witnesses may be safely construed as an admission of the truth of such assertion.